Researchers
say old reaction teaches new lesson

Stanford
researchers have observed that molecules formed by
the reaction of methane and atomic hydrogen scatter
in unexpected ways. The results appeared Oct. 14 on
the website of the journal Angewandte Chemie.

"This
means one of the simplest reactions in chemistry was
misunderstood for years," said Richard N. Zare,
the Marguerite Blake Wilbur Professor in Natural
Science.

Led by
graduate students Jon Camden and Hans Bechtel, the
group observed the reaction by using a technique
roughly analogous to watching baseball slugger Barry
Bonds at the plate. It is nearly impossible to see
with the naked eye the moment Bonds' bat strikes the
ball, yet most fans at the ballpark have no
difficulty picking up the trajectory of his home
runs.

Similarly,
while chemical reactions happen in the blink of an
eye, a sophisticated laser technique developed at
Stanford allows researchers to "watch" the
aftermath of these reactions in striking detail.

The
reaction was thought to be well understood. In fact,
hundreds of studies over the last several decades
have explored how methane, one of the most common
carbon-based molecules on Earth, reacts with
hydrogen, the most abundant atom in the universe.

Yet
these findings send many -- including the theoretical
chemists whose mathematical models had predicted a
different scattering pattern -- back to the drawing
board.

Zare,
the winner of the 2003 Hoagland Prize for teaching
excellence, said this research is a reminder of the
potential to learn from commonplace phenomena.
"This is about a new understanding of something
fundamental in nature."